DRABBLE: Stricken (Bellatrix/Voldemort)

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Title: Stricken
Pairing: Bellatrix/Voldemort
Prompt: Swirling to Nowhere
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 264
Summary: He hits her, and she blames herself.
Link to Prompt Table: http://gamma-x-orionis.livejournal.com/9118.html

She angered him once.

No, she angered him many times, but his control prevented him from demonstrating the full force of his wrath.  Even when she crossed his lines, he rarely resorted to physical violence.

Except…

Arguing had been foolish, she thought later.  She had demanded to know why he did not appreciate her – did he not want her?  If she had only given herself time to think, she would have realized that no good could come of confronting the Dark Lord for not paying enough attention to her.

The fight had escalated.  Bellatrix, in her stubbornness, had refused to back down, insisting that he should be a better lover to her.  She should have seen his temper running higher and higher, his patience wearing thin, but she did not.

She had never been hit before.

Even as a child, when discipline was needed, it was the Cruciatus curse that was used, not a slap.  Rodolphus would never dare to try to harm her, and the Dark Lord’s slaps when she and he were in the throes of lovemaking could scarcely be said to count.

But he hit her then.

She fell to the floor with the force of it, clutching her nose, which bled onto her hands.  The Dark Lord swept out, leaving her to drag herself into the bathroom to wash the blood away.

She stared at the red liquid, dripping from her nose and lips into the water, and watched it swirl to nowhere, disappearing down the drain, never to be seen again.

She wished that she could disappear that easily.